This article is

one in a series

A March 10, 2022, press release from the office State Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) states:

“Currently, there are more than 400 federal programs dedicated to helping rural communities, spread across 13 departments, and over 50 offices and sub-agencies which can create siloed, duplicative and ineffective bureaucracy.”

Craig is a co-sponsor of a bipartisan Rural Prosperity bill. The wording of the bill summary says it addresses social, economic and community well-being and resilience in rural communities.

Specifically, the bill establishes, within the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Rural Prosperity to promote and support social and economic prosperity in rural areas. The office, among other duties, must develop a strategy for rural development and metrics to measure the effectiveness of federal programs on rural areas.

In addition, the bill sets up a council that includes representatives from federal agencies and White House policy offices to ensure collaboration across federal agencies with other stakeholders concerning the needs of rural areas.

The bill also requires the Department of Agriculture to develop and report on the implementation of a rural prosperity action plan that addresses structural challenges that affect rural communities.

On March 23, 2022, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the bipartisan bill in the Senate, while another bipartisan group of Midwestern lawmakers introduced companion legislation in the House.

On April 20, 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the launch of still another office, the Rural Partners Network (RPN), which a White House release touted as “a new whole-of-government effort led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to transform the way federal agencies partner with rural places to create economic opportunity.”

The White House release goes on to state that to transform how the federal government partners with and delivers economic opportunity for rural communities across the United States, RPN will bring the federal government to rural America. New federal field staff will be placed in more than 25 rural communities in multiple U.S. states, Tribal Nations and territories to help local leaders navigate and access the federal resources they need to build a strong and vibrant economy.

“To boost local capacity,” the release continues, “the Biden Administration will deploy new RPN staff to help communities access the full breadth of federal resources for community-led economic development, working in close coordination with: local leaders in government, business and community organizations; federal agency field offices; existing federal efforts such as Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization and the President’s Justice40 Initiative; and staff of the Regional Commissions.”

A year later, on April 12, 2023, the National Governors Association announced in a release that governors and states are advancing equitable rural economic development and health care.

“Supporting rural communities is a top priority for governors, and states and territories are working to advance solutions in this area, particularly with respect to economic development and health care. More than 90% of the country’s land is considered rural, and one in five people in the U.S. live in rural places,” the release states.